


Far From Home

by WhumpTown



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark Coparenting Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-12 23:04:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20572415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhumpTown/pseuds/WhumpTown
Summary: Fixing Far From Home because none of that would have happened if Tony was alive





	Far From Home

**Author's Note:**

> I'm bored

“Mr. Stark, it’s just a week.” 

Peter lays on his stomach on his bed, his face buried in his comforter. May and Tony are hashing out the details. Somehow, despite the fact that Tony’s stuck in a wheelchair, forced to keep the ‘stupid and itchy’ oxygen canal on, and isn’t allowed to stay longer than an hour or get too rambunctious he’s fighting with May over the suit.

“You just got back,” Tony pushed to be allowed to leave the hospital. Even at the threat of getting sick and not being able to see Peter off at the airport. The consequences are playing out in front of them. Tony had come in full of life, excited at the thought of being able to leave the hospital. Now he’s slumped into the back of the wheelchair, every few breaths come in a wheeze, and his shoulders raise as he sucks in air. “Do you even have to go?”

May rolls her eyes using Tony’s momentary distraction to stuff the suit back into Peter’s bag. 

Tony sees it anyways,” he doesn’t need the suit!”

“What if there’s an emergency? Huh? He’s all the way across the ocean, Tony! He might need-”

“If he needs a suit,” Tony takes in a shaky breath,” then I’ll put my suit on and I’ll go fight. The suits fast, it won’t take any time at all to get to him!”

May throws her arms up, rolling her eyes. She points to Tony, gesturing at the scars marring his face, the lack of his right arm, and the braces on his legs. “Really? Tony, you’re still recovering!”

Tony opens his mouth, still gasping too much to really put forth the argument on the tip of his tongue. Instead, it’s May who sighs sadly and moves to his side. He’s up and bothered but doesn’t flinch when May places a hand on his shoulder. 

Peter moves to stand alongside them but May does something he doesn’t right expect. She moves her head to his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his trembling shoulders. Peter hears her whisper and stands still, knowing that this isn’t his place. Not right now.

“I know,” she says. The raw tone of her voice makes Peter look away. “I don’t want him leaving either, he’s too far away to protect.” There are tears in May’s eyes as she pulls back, pushing the hair that’s grown down in Tony’s face back away from his eyes. “His whole life, I’ve just wanted to keep him right here, with me, but he’s a curious boy. Always has been and I used to blame that on all those silly magazines and reports about you.”

Tony looks up, tears of his own streaming down his face. 

“All those adventurous, you and the Avengers. Now look at him,” and they do, it makes Peter’s cheeks flush. “He’s got to have his own and we’ve got to let him. We can do that, can’t we?”

Tony looks away but gives a small nod. 

“Right,” May wipes her nose and stands to her feet. “Peter,” her eyes are red-rimmed, her tears still wet on her face. “Finish packing, Mr. Stark and I are going to-to-”

“Have a drink?” Tony’s tone is hopeful but they all know he wouldn’t have one anyway. He’s been sober for over five years. 

May huffs at that, rolling her eyes at Tony. “I am going to have a nice glass of wine and Mr. Stark is going to enjoy orange juice.” Tony shrugs and doesn’t complain when May turns the wheelchair around and heads out of Peter’s bedroom.

Peter finds himself wondering if their friendship is going to be something that helps or prohibits him. 

\-----------

Pepper ends up being right in the end, Tony shouldn’t have gone to the apartment to help pack. He doesn't get pneumonia, which what Pepper’s main concern and the threat had been, but he’s worn down and can’t pass any of the tests the doctors and nurses want him to. So, Peter visits him at the hospital instead.

“It’s only a week,” he leaves ‘I’ve been gone five years, how hard can seven days be’ to be implied. Still, he sits on the edge of Tony’s bed, holding his hand and promising Tony and Morgan that he’ll come home. “I’ll call every night. Ned’s gonna be my bunkmate so you know he won’t let me forget.”

Tony looks skeptical but Peter lets himself sum it up to exhaustion. Tony sighs, glancing at Pepper and Rhodey in the corner. “Be safe. Don’t do anything I-”

“-anything you wouldn’t do and don’t do anything you would do. I know.” Peter smiles and looks down at their hands. He thought the hardest part about today was going to be leaving May crying at the airport. It turns out, everything about this is hard. 

Sitting here he keeps thinking about the battle. Tony collapsing, not saying a word, just dying. The three weeks they spent in a limbo between hope and desperation. Just to get here, to get to another goodbye and more things left unsaid and uncertain. Tony’s not safe, the doctors tell them he won’t ever be. He’s had his right arm amputated, any hope he might be able to walk again gets lost each day Tony doesn’t have the strength to sit up in bed by himself, and the scars on the side of his face that make his ear ring and his eyesight haze out. All for what?

Tears sting Peter’s eye and he tries to look away, to keep Tony from seeing them but the older man squeezes his hand and he knows. Peter sniffles pathetically and moves so that he can hug Tony. He cries into his shoulder and Tony wraps his arm around him. “Y-You gotta promise you’ll be safe too, okay? You can’t go anywhere. Promise? Y-You can-can’t-”

Tony pulls him closer,” shh, shh.” Peter lets himself take comfort in the hug, he pushes the other thoughts away. Tries not to think about Titan, the tears in Tony’s eyes, or the way they held on to one another like it would stop Peter from going anywhere. “I’ll be right here when you get back,” he grunts and then sighs. “Scratch that, I’ll be home when you get back. Busting out this place as soon as my two lovebirds stop holding me hostage.”

Rhodey and Pepper both roll their eyes.

Peter pulls out of the hug, suddenly feeling childish for the emotional outbreak. He wipes his eyes and sends a small smile to Rhodey and Pepper. They send one back. He wipes his nose on his sleeve and puts his hands in his lap. “Okay but don’t- don’t push it, you know?” His voice trembles and he forces a smile,” you’re old now, sir. It’s not as easy to bounce back. The good old days-”

Tony socks him in the arm and Peter laughs. 

“Get out of here, punk.” Tony’s hand lingers for a moment on Peter’s arm but he gives him a small squeeze and drops his hand. He breathes heavily, there are tears in his eyes but he forces a smile and a wink. Peter stands up and forces himself to head for the door. “Hey!” Tony’s got a smile on his lips,” anybody tell you about the birds and the bees? I don’t want you out and about in Italy or Paris getting all buddy-buddy with a girl-”

“No! No!” Peter’s hands are over his ears. “Stop, God! I know about the birds and the bees, jeez. I-I and I am _not_ doing _that_ at-at there!”

Tony smiles Peter’s crimson cheeks a good enough answer for him. “Good. I don’t think I’m ready for any Spiderbabys just yet.” They both shiver at the thought. Tony frowns deeper,” yeah matter of fact, please, please don’t do anything stupid. I’m too old for you to go around having kids just yet.”

Peter pretends to vomit,” I promise. No kids yet, grandpa.”

\----------

The second night comes and Peter wants to go home. He doesn’t tell May that when he calls her. She peppers him in love and tells him about her day. She makes him laugh, telling him stories about a patient and this doctor she hates that got puked on. It makes him feel better, safer having left her and Tony. He tells her that he loves her and promises that if he needs anything at all he’ll call. 

When Tony picks up, a weight he hadn’t realized he was carrying is lifted from his shoulders. It’s not Tony at first, despite the fact that he called his personal cell. 

“_This is my daddy’s phone! Who’s calling_?” He can hear the background, what he’s pretty sure is Tony snoring. Morgan isn’t sleeping though, her voice carries loudly and he imagines that Pepper’s left the two of them for the afternoon. They took a nap and now Tony’s still asleep and he’s left a rowdy, spunky little five year old to roam through the house. 

Peter smiles though,” _hey, Morgie-pie, it’s Pete_.” 

He can hear her gasp in delight,” _Peter! Your on daddy’s phone? That’s so cool! I miss you, daddy does too_!” She bounces down from wherever she’d been, he suspects it’s either from jumping off the couch or on her bed. “_I’m gonna go wake him up. Just give me a sec_!”

“_Wai-_” too late. He listens over the phone as Morgan runs through the house. 

_“Daddy?! Daddy, you gotta answer the phone.”_

_Something rustles and Tony’s deep voice mumbles,” Morgan, kiddo, what have you got?”_

_He hears Morgan running again and the sound of her body hitting what he thinks is the bed. She bounces around and lands near or on Tony judging by his ‘oof’. “I got your phone and Peter’s on it!” _

_He can hear Tony’s muffled reply and Morgan must shake her head because he can hear the phone getting tossed and the sound of Morgan happily giggling. Then, “hey, Pete. How’s vacation?”_

Peter tells him everything. All the buildings are super old and kind of look like they’re gonna fall down. That it smells like stale air and old shoes but sometimes when the wind blows and they’re close enough to a flower shop it’s not half-bad. He even tells him about Mysterio but Tony tells him not to worry about that, Tony’s going to look into this guy and he doesn’t want Peter messing with him just yet. 

It’s Morgan’s bedtime in no time at all, Tony tells him that she’s curled up in his lap. She’s picking at his shirt, spinning the fabric around her finger and scratching at the loose threads. Before they hang up, Tony tells him to be safe. That if MJ has half as good of a head on her shoulder as Tony thinks she does that she’ll love Peter to pieces, just like everyone else. Peter blushes because it’s well and truly as close as they have ever come to saying that they love each other.

“Goodnight, Tony.”

“Goodnight, kid.”

\----------

May sends a text around one that she wants to call him as soon as he has time. Peter doesn’t think much of it, she’s likely got something interesting to tell him. He doesn’t check his phone for the rest of the day. He’s going to give MJ her gift tonight and May can just tell him whatever it is later. He’s coming home in two days anyway.

Pepper sends him a text at two. 

He misses a call from both of them.

“_It’s a black dahlia, like the murder._”

“_I know you’re Spider-man._”

Peter walks home on a natural high. Tony would be proud, Peter’s had his first-ever kiss and he got nobody pregnant. That thought puts a small damper on his mood, he’s not ready for that. On the flip side, she knows he’s spiderman. In retrospect, it could be worse. Really.

“Hey May, what’s with the spam-”

There’s collective sigh on the other end and Peter feels his chest clench in fear. “Peter, where have you been all day! You had me worried sick and then…” Peter holds the phone closer to his head, falling onto the bed behind him. “There’s been a setback… Tony’s fine now, coming around nicely but… Peter, there was a small bleed in Tony’s brain. They have since removed it and he’s already woken up once and he’s talking. They don’t think there’s any damage but with things like the brain it’s-it’s tricky.”

Peter feels tears sting his eyes. He kissed a girl tonight and he almost missed his chance to tell Mr. Stark about it.

“Hey… he’s awake now Pete. You wanna talk to him?”

Peter shakes his head, his voice is going to be thick with emotion. He doesn’t say anything though and he hears the ragged but familiar sound of Tony’s grumbling voice from afar. Then,” hey kid. You won’t believe what I almost did.”

Peter wants to cry, to sob, and scream ‘_you almost died you stupid pig-headed bastard_’ but he’d never. Even as he thinks it, he finds it cruel and pulls his knees to his chest and wraps an arm around them. He hums in response. 

Tony’s voice is hardly above a whisper, exhaustion sneaks into every word. He keeps pushing because he has to tell someone. “I think I can bring her back, Pete. I think I can bring Nat back.”

Peter buries his face into his knees,” is that… have you been sleeping?” The crucial, unsaid part is if he’s getting enough sleep. Tony sleeps, everyone has to sleep, but Tony only sleeps just enough to keep his body from shutting down and making him black-out randomly. 

This time, Tony’s the one that hums in response. Peter takes it as more or less and he can tell Tony’s slipping. 

“Mr. Stark? Please sleep, I’ll be home a day or two. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do-”

Peter smiles when Tony softly finishes- “and don’t do anything you would do. I promise, kid.”

They sit on the line until, neither of them saying anything just listening to each other's breath. It’s oddly reassuring and Peter finds himself falling asleep. 

“Peter?” May’s got the phone and Peter startles back awake. “He fell asleep, honey.” Peter curls back around himself,” sleep right, baby. We love you.”

The call ends and he can’t stop hearing her words. Especially the ‘we’. When did it become ‘we’?

\----------

“Where is he?”

May frowns,” I raise you for over twelve years of your life. I put food in your belly, a roof over your head, and you want to see your silly little millionaire BFF before your beloved aunt?” Her tone is picking more than hurt. She also knows that Tony is more than just Peter’s odd friend. Even if she was adamant about what a fifty-year-old man would want with her nephew he’s grown on her. Loud and ostentatious but one of the kindest hearts she’s known in a long time.

Peter sighs and hugs her. He’s warm from the sun and tanner than when he left but he’s still Peter. She’s glad he hasn’t changed. “May,” he doesn’t let go for a long moment,” you know I love you. I just…”

He’s missing a father figure and no matter how good she is he’s always going to want a dad. She doesn’t resent that or Tony for filling in for that role but it still stings. Peter doesn’t mean for it to and so she doesn’t mind. He just wants to be loved and he’s got such a big heart she can’t tell him no. 

“I know, baby. Let’s go see Iron Man, huh?” She throws an arm over his shoulder,” he’s doing better. He took to heart whatever it was that you said. Angry about being stuck in the wheelchair until his sugar goes up and blood pressure goes down but he’s fine.”

She doesn’t tell him about the brain surgery. The unorthodox way they had to let Pepper back when his heart rate spiked and he had a panic attack on the table. The way she came out sobbing and told May how his heart stopped in the middle of the attack. His eyes wide open in fear and he’d died. She watched as they shocked him alive again. He was too weak to even thrash in his terror. 

Instead, she happily listens to Peter go on and on about MJ. The way his cheeks flush when he tells her that he kissed MJ and the way it somehow gets twice as worse when she says she can’t wait to tell Tony. He makes her promise she won’t tell Tony and they wonder how such an odd man has now become such a crucial person in their lives. 

Peter falters in the doorway. He can see Tony from there, close enough that he can see the small patch of hair that they’ve shaved. It’s ugly, vulgar and it clashes with Tony’s freshly retired beard and collection of sweaters. Just like the impressive black eyes, he’s sporting.

“Peter!” Morgan crawls out from underneath the blanket fort she’s made in a corner. She barrels into his side and squeezes his hips. “I missed you a whole bunch!” She takes his hand and drags him the rest of the way in, right past Tony now watching them half-awake. “Look, I made a tent for Daddy’s room. Mommy says he’s a little sick, he’s got a tummy ache in his head.” She says it’s so matter-of-fact that Peter manages a smile.

She smiles back at him and tugs him down so that he can see down into her fort. “I’ve got snacks,” she motions to the Capri sun and grapes she has in a little cup. “I have pillows,” she points to the three that are stacked on top of each other. “I stole them from Daddy but he said it was okay. Mommy thinks I put them back.” Morgan looks around her fort, peeks through a small hole and moves real close to Peter. She rests half in his lap when she whispers,” Mommy cries when Daddy sleeps, sometimes. It’s because he fell asleep in the garage and had to come back here. He’s okay though, he promised. He won’t leave again.”

Peter’s eyes sting but he forces his tears away. Morgan’s right, more or less. “Yeah,” he pats her shoulder and clears his throat. “Uhm, I’m gonna talk to your dad, okay?” 

Morgan nods and Peter takes that as an indication that he can let himself out of her mini-fort.

“Hey,” Peter doesn’t feel right adding any of the things he usually would to that. No ‘old man’s or digs at all. He can’t force it. 

Tony smiles softly, motioning with his hand at the space on his right side for Peter to sit. He does so hesitantly. “How was the trip?”

Peter doesn’t have to tell him that he can’t remember a damn thing. That all of the highlights and fun stuff have disappeared from his mind because he’s only been able to think about Tony. His brain is constantly reminding him that the doctors have predicted that Tony will be in and out of hospitals until he dies. That he’s constantly going to be weak, shakey, and bothered because his body can’t control his blood sugar or pressure. He’ll take medicine, have to get his heart looked at, and take nebulizer treatments to keep his ruined lungs working.

“Tones, I got you orange juice-” Rhodey stops in the doorway, a smile splitting his face at the sight of Peter. “Spider-Brat! You’re back!” The older man comes the rest of the way into the room and throws Peter into a one-armed hug. “If I knew you were back I would have brought you a candy bar or something! Jeez, I’ll be right back. I can’t neglect my adopted Godchild.”

Rhodey plants a kiss on Tony’s head, pressing the orange juice he bought into Tony’s left hand. “Be right back, snickerdoodle. Hey Morgie-Porgie, you want anything?”

“FISH!”

Rhodey snaps his fingers,” you got it, kid. Peter, whatcha want? Sunchips? Gummies? Chocolate bar?” He waits and Peter knows he’s going to have to give Rhodey an answer but he’s frozen. He can’t even think of any of the snacks he likes. 

“He likes those-those triangle things,” Tony supplies helpfully. 

Rhodey nods,” okay. Doritos it is.” He winks at Tony and exits the room with a flourish. Peter’s glad that physical therapy has helped Rhodey as much as it has. Five years ago, before he disappeared Rhodey wasn’t nearly that good yet.

“Aww,” Tony smiles at Peter,” looks like platypus likes you.”

Peter doesn’t understand Rhodey and Tony’s affection for one another. Or even why it is that Tony constantly insists on giving everyone a nickname.

Compared to Platypus he'll take Spiderbaby or Spiderboy all day long.

**Author's Note:**

> Send me shit to wriiiittte
> 
> I'm bored


End file.
